We are very excited about announcing the 2012 Technology 200. This is our 3rd annual list and proud to have so many high quality companies on our list. We want to say thank you to all of the applicants and hope to see you next year.

Over the past 3 years we have noticed a trend in our lists. It seems there are a lot of inbound/seo software companies that are growing very quickly. They have actually been growing faster than any of the mobile companies inside the lists. This includes companies like Hubspot, SEOMoz, Marketo, BrightWave Marketing, InfusionSoft, Vindicia, VerticalResponse and Yodle.

This wouldn’t be surprising if you were to look at our Marketing ROI survey. The past 2 years we have been asking the Tech 200 applicants where they see the biggest return in their marketing budget. This includes traditional as well as new media options. In both years, you will notice that the top 4 marketing methods are seo, email marketing, online ads and tradeshows. Excluding tradeshows, this is exactly what these inbound & marketing automation software companies are delivering to their clients.

So who is the overall winner? Austin-based MHD Enterprises took the top spot with 4823% growth. That is a 37% increase over last year’s winner. Congratulations!

The selection process for this year’s movers and shakers in the Software, Hardware, Internet, Media, Advertising, Wireless, Telecom, IT Services, eCommerce, and Consulting industries included the following requirements:

And the wait is finally over… Lead411 has now released the much-anticipated list of this year’s top performing companies – Technology 200! From an overwhelming number of 600 applications, the Lead411 team has narrowed it down to the cream of the crop, 200 companies that have manifested remarkable revenue growth, with at least $500,000 in income for the year 2010.

You can’t beat free…or can you? Code 42, maker of the award-winning CrashPlan data backup solution, has found its sweet spot through its freemium offering. While the cloud-based service has lots of users at the free level, many of them upgrade to the Pro paid version to get even more features, like cloud backup destination, backup sets and continuous backup. And with companies like Google, Adobe and Cisco using its enterprise services, Code 42 seems to have the golden ticket to success.

Beating Out the Competition

Revenues show why Code 42 is one of our Tech 200: they increased from $3,819,600 in 2009 to $10,805,000 in 2010. Some of that growth is attributed to the shift toward cloud-based services in general, for both personal and business use, says CEO Matthew Dornquast. But while anyone can offer cloud backup, Code 42 offers features its competitors can’t top, like multi-platform support, multiple destination support, mobile apps, great security, and the most important: reliability.

Code 42 has the usual mix of marketing tools in its toolbelt, but the company puts stronger efforts into trade shows, as well as online and traditional advertising. And while the company spends only 5% of its marketing budget on social media, it’s seeing a sizeable ROI from its Twitter strategy. By far, though, is the benefit Code 42 realizes from its freemium model:

“We utilize a wide range of media and programs,” says Dornquast, “But by far our most effective is the fact that we deliver a highly functional free version, which shows prospective customers how easy it is to get their data to a safe place.”

The Future of Cloud

The company is now ten years old, and is profitable. It’s never taken funding, which is unique for a company that’s grown as fast as it has. As for what’s in store for Code 42, Dornquast is a bit quiet: “To keep making great solutions which help computer users protect, access and share their files.” We’re looking forward to seeing what Code 42 has up its sleeve!